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Jamie Oleksiak

Penguins’ Brian Dumoulin And Kris Letang Suffer Injuries

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Ahead of last night’s Stadium Series game between the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins at Lincoln Financial Field, there was some concern that rain – and the dangerous ice conditions it can cause – would force the Flyers to sit Wayne Simmonds, their top trade chip. With the NHL Trade Deadline only days away, an injury to Simmonds would have made him nearly immovable. Philadelphia decided to take the risk and play Simmonds and the result can only be described as ironic. Rather than Simmonds getting injured, he was the cause of another injury. A high hit by the physical winger on Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin forced Dumoulin out of the game late in the first period.

To make matters worse, Dumoulin’s top pair partner also left the game early. Kris Letang suffered an injury, although it was not immediately clear what happened, in the scrum following the hit on Dumoulin. With Dumoulin and Letang out, the Penguins skated with just four defenseman for much of the game, leaving Justin Schultz and Jack Johnson to each play more than 30 minutes in the game. The effort simply wasn’t enough to overcome the losses, as the Flyers stormed back from two goals down to win in overtime.

As disappointing as the result may have been, one overtime loss is nothing compared to what may happen to the Penguins if both Dumoulin and Letang are out long-term. After the game, head coach Mike Sullivan announced that Dumoulin had suffered a concussion, which was the expected result of the high hit. He also added that Letang was being evaluated for an upper-body injury, but refrained from going into detail. While a concussion is a serious matter, Letang’s injury may be of even greater concern. The All-Star blue liner missed more than a quarter of the regular season and the entire postseason in 2016-17 with a serious neck injury and the understandable worry in Pittsburgh is that it is another neck issue for Letang.

If one or both of the top defensemen are set to miss time, the Penguins are ill-suited to handle that absence. With Olli Maatta already on the injured reserve with no timeline for a return, injuries to Letang and Dumoulin leave Pittsburgh in difficult shape on the blue line. Schultz, who himself just returned from injury, should be able to fill a top-pair role if need be. However, Johnson has had a miserable season and would be a major liability if his ice time increased. Youngsters Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola have played well enough, but neither is quite ready for an increased workload. Chad Ruhwedel has only played in 17 games with the Penguins this year as a frequent healthy scratch, while no defenders in the AHL have seen NHL action this year. The likes of Zach Trotman and Ethan Prow are likely the next men up in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Just last month, Pittsburgh felt comfortable enough with their defensive depth to trade Jamie Oleksiak back to the Dallas Stars. Now, the tables have turned and GM Jim Rutherford has about 24 hours to evaluate the initial injury news on Dumoulin and Letang and decide if he needs to add another defenseman before the deadline. The rental defenseman market isn’t very encouraging and the Penguins have limited cap space, but a player like Adam McQuaid or Michael Del Zotto might make sense for Rutherford to pursue if the Penguins will be without one or both of their top defenders for an extended time. However, with the team battling for a playoff spot still – currently tied with the Carolina Hurricanes for the final wild card spot in the East – a minor trade addition may not be enough to save the season if Letang and Dumoulin are out long-term. This could be the beginning of the end for the Penguins’ season.

Five Key Stories: 2/11/19 – 2/17/19

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With the trade deadline now just over a week away, activity has started to pick up around the NHL.  Rumors of major trades continue, but so far just a few deals have been completed.

Lafreniere To Stay In CHL: Potential 2020 first-overall pick Alexis Lafreniere set the record straight after rumors were circulating that the 17-year-old may opt to sign a contract overseas and follow the footsteps of Auston Matthews who played his draft year in the Swiss NLA. Lafreniere’s agent, Momentum Hockey Agency, released a statement making it clear that while the young talent did look into playing overseas, he and his family decided to stay in the CHL with Rimouski Oceanic of the QMJHL where he’s played the last two years, having totaled 74 goals and 172 points in 110 games. At 6-foot-1, he already has the size and proven ability to play in a professional league, but he will stay put for one more year.

Pastrnak, Maatta Injured: The Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins each took a hit to their team when each team lost a significant player to injury. The Boston Bruins lost David Pastrnak for a minimum of two weeks after he underwent thumb surgery on Feb. 12 after he fell at a team function. The Bruins, who are fighting with the Toronto Maple Leafs for the second spot in the Atlantic Division won’t be helped even if its for a few weeks without Pastrnak, who is the team’s leading scorer with 31 goals as well as 66 points, second on the team. The Penguins also took a hit on their blueline when they placed Olli Maatta on injured reserve with an upper-body injury that would sideline him indefinitely. The team was getting back Justin Schultz from injury at the time, but the team was looking forward to getting back a fully healthy defense, which now they won’t have for some time. To make matters worse, the team had recently dealt away Jamie Oleksiak to make room for Schultz, leaving the team with a lack of depth all of the sudden.

Wild Owner Approves Selling: Just hours after Minnesota Wild head coach Bruce Boudreau guaranteed that the Wild would make the playoffs, Wild owner Craig Leipold announced that he has given general manager Paul Fenton the green light to sell off some of the team’s players in advance of the upcoming trade deadline. With the team dropping four straight and having a 2-5-3 record in their last 10 games, it might be time for Fenton to make his mark on this team after being hired this summer to fix the team’s inability to advance deep into the playoffs. Among the numerous players who could be shipped off include pending unrestricted free agent Eric Staal as well as Charlie Coyle, who still has one more year on his deal. There are also a number of bottom six players who could be moved as well, including Eric Fehr, Matt Hendricks, Brad Hunt, Matt Bartkowski and Anthony Bitetto.

Philadelphia’s Hart Gets A Mentor: The Philadelphia Flyers finally consummated a rumored trade in which it acquired Edmonton Oilers goaltender Cam Talbot for Anthony Stolarz. While Edmonton freed themselves some much needed cap room as Talbot was making $4.17MM, the Flyers got themselves what they hope will be a long-term veteran who can mentor their prized rookie Carter Hart for the next few years. Talbot, who was already familiar with Hart before, waived his no-movement clause to come to Philadelphia and made it clear that he was open to signing a new contract before July 1 to remain with the team.

Ottawa Intends To Trade Duchene: The Ottawa Senators have stopped in their attempts to sign Matt Duchene to an extension and have indicated to all teams that they intend to trade the 26-year-old center. According to reports, the Senators have shifted their focus of signing Duchene to making a full effort to locking up Mark Stone to an extension. Stone may have a day or two to make up his mind on whether he is willing to sign an extension or he too, will be made available to the league with the intention of selling them off at the trade deadline. Already there has been rumors that the Nashville Predators, the Columbus Blue Jackets and the New York Islanders have expressed serious interest in acquiring the center with more suitors likely to join in before the upcoming trade deadline on Feb. 25.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Dallas Stars Reacquire Jamie Oleksiak, Issue Update On Marc Methot

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The Dallas Stars have decided to bring back a familiar face, reacquiring Jamie Oleksiak from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for a 2019 fourth-round pick. At the same time, the team has announced that Marc Methot will not return this season after undergoing surgery on his left knee. Amazingly, the fourth-round pick is going to be the same one that Pittsburgh sent to Dallas in the first place to acquire Oleksiak last season.

Though this seems like a simple trade back of a depth defenseman, there are more circumstances than just the Penguins flipping Oleksiak back to his former team. First and foremost, Oleksiak now comes on a three-year contract that carries a $2.14MM cap hit through 2020-21. When he was first acquired by Pittsburgh he was a pending restricted free agent with almost no risk involved, now Dallas must involve him more regularly or watch a good chunk of cap space eaten up by someone in the press box.

Second though, Oleksiak comes with renewed confidence and increased performance from his days in Dallas. The 6’7″ defenseman was struggling to get into the lineup on a regular basis through the early part of his career, and had only played 21 games in the 2017-18 season when he was flipped to Pittsburgh. The Penguins almost immediately increased his minutes and Oleksiak responded with some of the best hockey of his career. This season, though his minutes have dropped slightly thanks to the improved depth on the Pittsburgh blue line, he is still an effective physical force that can separate attackers from the puck with his body or long reach.

That kind of addition is exactly what the Stars are looking for, especially with Methot now confirmed out for the year. In fact, today’s announcement may very well spell the end of Methot’s career in Dallas given that he is an unrestricted free agent this summer and will be 34 coming off a major knee injury. Methot’s $4.9MM cap hit has been moved to long-term injured reserve, and it will be tough for him to secure anything close to that next season.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Pittsburgh Penguins Likely To Be Sellers On Defense

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have been impressive over the past few weeks with a record of 12-2 and the team may get even better as The Athletic’s Josh Yohe (subscription required) writes that defenseman Justin Schultz, who has missed all but four games this season with a broken leg, has been skating regularly with the team. While it’s too early for a specific timetable, the defenseman could conceivably be back in early to mid-February. However, Schultz’s return will only create more of a defensive logjam for Pittsburgh, which may be forced to make a move soon.

Yohe writes that once Schultz returns to the lineup, the team is likely to match Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang together, Schultz with Olli Maatta and Jack Johnson with Marcus Pettersson, leaving several players out of the lineup, including 6-foot-6, 256-pound Jamie Oleksiak, promising Juuso Riikola and depth defenseman Chad Ruhwedel — far too may players to keep on their roster which, barring injury, will likely prompt a trade.

Surprisingly, the team is solid in that top six as the scribe adds that the team is devoted to playing Pettersson, who has been incredibly reliable since they acquired the blueliner from Anaheim back on Dec. 3 for Daniel Sprong. In fact, the team has been 14-3-1 when he’s playing, and while Pettersson can’t take all the credit for that, he is a significant defensive presence for the team with many believing that he will make up the left side of the defense with Dumoulin and Maatta for the next few years. Pettersson is only averaging 14:54 of ATOI this season, yet he’s seen a recent spike since arriving in Pittsburgh, averaging 16:09 and continuing to increase. He played 18:05 on Friday against his old team, the Ducks. His offense is also starting to come around as he has a five-game point streak going as he has six assists in the last five games.

That might suggest the team’s best trade asset would likely be the 26-year-old Oleksiak, despite being the second biggest player in the league, next to Winnipeg’s Dustin Byfuglien. Oleksiak has developed into a solid player in Pittsburgh after several years of struggling to break into the Dallas Stars’ lineup. He just recently returned from injury after suffering a concussion in a fight with Washington’s Tom Wilson and may be best known for a collision with Byfuglien earlier this season. Byfuglien came away with the worst of the collision as he suffered a concussion himself. Regardless, a player with Oleksiak’s size could stir quite a bit of interest if Pittsburgh is ready to move on from him. Although he is returning from injury, he has seen a decrease in playing time since his return.

If the team does opt to move Oleksiak, that could leave Riikola as the team’s seventh defenseman and Ruhwedel as the team’s eighth defenseman if the team chooses to hold onto eight defensemen, although that could be at the cost of another forward.

 

Jamie Oleksiak Out Indefinitely With Concussion

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The Pittsburgh Penguins confirmed today what was readily apparent last night: Jamie Oleksiak has suffered a concussion. The team announced that Oleksiak will be out indefinitely while also activating Dominik Simon from injured reserve.

Oleksiak sustained the injury when he was knocked to the ice by a hard punch from Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson and needed assistance to get to the bench. The fight occurred less than a minute into what would turn into a feisty game, and will cost Oleksiak at least a little time as he recovers. The Penguins will have to find someone else to take on the 16 minutes that Oleksiak averaged with the Penguins this season.

Turning 26 tomorrow, Oleksiak seems to have turned a corner in his NHL career and is finally starting to show the kind of potential that made him the 14th overall selection in 2011. The 6’7″ defenseman never could establish himself with the Dallas Stars, but has 25 points in 79 games since coming to Pittsburgh and was off to the best start of his career this season. Though he doesn’t carry any powerplay or regular penalty kill responsibility, Oleksiak did provide the Penguins with a big, physical presence to balance out some of their smaller skilled defensemen. That will now be lacking while he recovers, a period which is completely up in the air at this point.

Metropolitan Notes: Columbus’ Defense, Maatta, Butcher, Kreider

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With losses of both Jack Johnson and Ian Cole this offseason, the Columbus Blue Jackets will have some changes on their defense. Those changes could alter the entire defense, as head coach John Tortorella said recently in a Q&A with The Athletic’s Aaron Portzline (subscription required). In fact, Tortorella said he will have to consider whether he’s ready to break up his two star defensemen in Seth Jones and Zach Werenski. At the moment, he’s not ready to do so.

“It certainly makes me think about it, and I have thought about it this summer,” Tortorella said. “I’m going to let it play out. Right now I’m going into the season with ‘Z’ and Jonesy together, and we’ll see what comes of that second pair.”

Jones had a breakout season a year ago, while Werenski had an off year, but dealt with a shoulder injury that hampered him all season. However, Tortorella hopes that others will fill in for the team’s offseason losses, including Markus Nutivaara and Ryan Murray.

“I think (Markus) Nutivaara has improved tremendously,” Tortorella said. “I think (Murray) looked different to me in the playoffs. He can’t even grow a beard yet, he’s just got this stuff all over his face, but he looked different to me. He had more of a game face than I’ve seen since I coached him. He was really good in the playoffs. Can he take those minutes? I know he wants to. I know he’s pissed at me that I don’t give him enough time at certain times, but hopefully, he stays healthy and plays with an attitude.”

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins look to be breaking up their top-four as well as the team promised to give top minutes to free-agent signee Jack Johnson, which will force the team to make some changes, according to Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s Jason Mackey in a Penguins’ chat. While the team has no intention of breaking up their top defensive pair of Brian Dumoulin and Kris Letang. That means the likely second line will be Johnson and Justin Schultz, which will likely force Olli Maatta out of the top four. Maatta, who tied a career-high in 29 points last season, will likely be moved to the third pairing next to Jamie Oleksiak.
  • The Athletic’s Ryan Clark’s (subscription required) writes a Q&A interview with New Jersey Devils defenseman Will Butcher, the second-year defenseman has said he’s spent his offseason working on his shot. “My huge emphasis this summer has been on my shot from one-timers to just getting it off quicker,” Butcher said. “Just try to shoot the puck more. Look to shoot the puck more than pass.” The 23-year-old posted impressive numbers in his first year in the league, putting up five goals and 39 points last season. An impressive shot could improve his goal numbers in the future.
  •  When New York Rangers winger Chris Kreider returned from a two-month break when he was recovering from a blood clot, the 27-year-old had lost 15 pounds, which actually proved helpful to him, according to The Athletic’s Shayna Goldman (subscription required). In fact, Kreider played some of his best hockey upon his return, which could fit in well around head coach David Quinn’s new system. The scribe writes that Kreider found the perfect balance between his size, speed, strength and skill, which could carry over to this season, especially now that he’s out of Alain Vigneault’s system that focused only on his speed.

Full 2018 Arbitration Hearing Schedule

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Almost four dozen players decided to file for salary arbitration this summer, and while some of them have already been signed to contracts many others now know when their hearing will take place. The NHLPA released the full schedule of hearings, spread out from July 20th to August 4th.  Remember that players can sign up until an arbitrator awards a contract, including in the short window after the hearing.

July 20

Jacob Trouba – Team filing: $4.0MM, Player filing: $7.0MM. Awarded one-year, $5.5MM contract.

July 23

Brett Kulak – Team filing: $650K, two-way contract, Player filing: $1.15MM, one-way contract. Awarded one-year, $850K contract.

July 24

Brandon Montour – Team filing: $1.5MM, Player filing: $4.5MM Settled before hearing, two years $6.775MM

July 30

Garnet Hathaway – Team filing: $650K, Player filing: $975K Settled before hearing, one-year $850K

August 1

Cody Ceci – Team filing: $3.35MM, Player filing $6.0MM. Awarded one-year, $4.3MM contract.
Gemel Smith – Team filing: two-way contract, Player filing: $900K. Awarded one-year one-way, $720K contract.

August 3

Mark Stone – Team filing: $5.0MM, Player filing $9.0MM Settled before hearing, one-year, $7.35MM

August 4

William Karlsson – Team filing: $3.5MM, Player filing $6.5MM

Remaining 2018 Arbitration Dates

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As usual, arbitration hearings scheduled for later this month have been getting cancelled every day as teams lock up their restricted free agents. Hearings are scheduled each year between July 20th and August 4th, but we’ve already seen 18 players that filed for player-elected salary arbitration reach a settlement with their respective teams. Those players are listed below, with their contract details:

Elias Lindholm (CGY) – 6 years, $4.85MM AAV
Trevor van Riemsdyk (CAR) – 2 years, $2.3MM AAV
Matthew Nieto (COL) – 2 years, $1.98MM AAV
Devin Shore (DAL) – 2 years, $2.3MM AAV
Joel Armia (MTL) – 1 year, $1.85MM AAV
Phillip Danault (MTL) – 3 years, $3.08MM AAV
Blake Coleman (NJD) – 3 years, $1.8MM AAV
Stefan Noesen (NJD) – 1 year, $1.73MM AAV
Jimmy Vesey (NYR) – 2 years, $2.28MM AAV
Taylor Leier (PHI) – 1 year, $720K AAV
Alex Lyon (PHI) – 2 years, $750K AAV
Jamie Oleksiak (PIT) – 3 years, $2.14MM AAV
Dmitrij Jaskin (STL) – 1 year, $1.1MM AAV
Oskar Sundqvist (STL) – 1 year, $700K AAV
Colin Miller (VGK) – 4 years, $3.88MM AAV
Liam O’Brien (WSH) – 1 year, $650K AAV
Connor Hellebuyck (WPG) – 6 years, $6.17MM AAV
Tomas Nosek (VGK) – 1 year, $962.5K AAV

The remaining arbitration schedule looks like this:

July 20

Chris Tierney (SJS)
Jacob Trouba (WPG)

July 22

Adam Lowry (WPG)

July 23

Brett Kulak (CGY)
Mathew Dumba (MIN)

July 24

Brandon Montour (ANA)

July 25

Joel Edmundson (STL)
Brandon Tanev (WPG)

July 27

Mark Jankowski (CGY)

July 28

David Rittich (CGY)
Jason Zucker (MIN)

July 29

Troy Stecher (VAN)

July 30

Garnet Hathaway (CGY)
MacKenzie Weegar (FLA)
Marko Dano (WPG)

July 31

Brady Skjei (NYR)

August 1

Cody Ceci (OTT)
Gemel Smith (DAL)

August 2

Miikka Salomaki (NSH)
Kevin Hayes (NYR)

August 3

Mattias Janmark (DAL)
Mark Stone (OTT)
Brock Nelson (NYI)

August 4

Ryan Spooner (NYR)
Patrik Nemeth (DAL)
William Karlsson (VGK)

Metropolitan Notes: Panarin, Oleksiak, Skjei

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With the team’s work with their restricted free agents now complete, Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Jarmo Kekalainen now has time to work on more important projects for the team. The GM’s top priority is to attempt to talk to star Artemi Panarin and try and talk him into signing a long-term deal. Now, NHL.com’s Igor Eronko reports that Kekalainen intends to meet with Panarin in France on Monday.

Panarin, who will be an unrestricted free agent next season, could become the headline superstar available to teams like John Tavares was this offseason. The 26-year-old originally signed with the Chicago Blackhawks and was traded a year ago to Columbus to alleviate salary cap issues. He posted excellent numbers with the Blue Jackets in the first season, putting upu 27 goals and a career-high 82 points. He has already stated that he isn’t willing to discuss an extension “as of now,” and it has been suggested by his agent Dan Milstein that the Blue Jackets might be better off trading him now.

Kekalainen obviously hopes that he can either convince Panarin to consider signing an extension soon or be convinced that he will have to make a trade to get Panarin to a team that he wants to play for.

  • The Pittsburgh Penguins locked up defenseman Jamie Oleksiak to a three-year, $6.4MM deal a few days ago, but it shows how far the 6-foot-7, 255-pound blueliner has come, according to Jason Mackey of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Unable to break into the Stars’ lineup throughout the first five years of his career, he found himself traded to Pittsburgh where assistant coaches Jacques Martin and Sergei Gonchar altered his entire game like the franchise has done in the last few years with other blueliners such as Justin Schultz, Ian Cole and Chad Ruhwedel. Using film, they have worked on his defensive skills, penalty killing, his shot and his stickhandling to start and have high expectations for him next season. His offense has already started as in 47 games with Pittsburgh he posted four goals and 14 points.
  • Shayna Goldman of The Athletic (subscription required) breaks down the New York Rangers restricted free agency dilemma, especially looking at what to do with defenseman Brady Skjei in regards to giving the blueliner a bridge deal or long-term deal. The scribe looks back to forward Kevin Hayes, also a restricted free agent, who received a two-year bridge deal, but now will cost the team quite a bit of money. Skjei, who is coming off a down year, might be better off with a bridge deal to see what kind of player he becomes over the next two seasons. However, a long-term deal might also be quite beneficial because it would come at a lower cost. Even if he doesn’t become more than a third-pairing defenseman, a low-cost long-term deal has quite a bit of trade value as well.

Penguins Re-Sign Jamie Oleksiak

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The Pittsburgh Penguins had one arbitration hearing on the books this off-season and it can now be canceled. The team announced that they have agreed to terms on a new contract with defenseman Jamie Oleksiak. It is a three-year extension that carries a cap hit of approximately $2.14MM.

Oleksiak, 25, flourished in 2017-18 after a mid-season trade from the Dallas Stars. The 6’7″, 255-lb. bruiser had always been a difficulty to play against, but his offensive game developed nicely when he was given increased ice time and responsibility on the Pittsburgh blue line. In 47 regular season games with the Penguins, Oleksiak recorded 14 points; he had only managed to score 22 total points prior in 140 games with Dallas. He also took far more shots and carried the puck more often following the trade. Not only did this offensive uptick not come at the cost of defense, but Oleksiak actually improved his physical game with 138 hits with Pittsburgh – more than double his previous career high in any season with the Stars.

Oleksiak set career marks across the board with Pittsburgh and looked at home with his new team. Both sides are likely very happy with the term of this contract, while the salary is a nice bump for Oleksiak after six seasons coming in at under $1MM. The Penguins now have the bulk of their top six – Oleksiak, Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin, Jack Johnson, and Olli Maatta – signed through 2020-21. The deal does move Pittsburgh ever closer to the cap though; the team is currently projected to enter the upcoming season with just $745K in space with their current 23-man roster. The Penguins likely aren’t done making moves this off-season.

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